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Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Education - Everything you need to know about the world of education.

Education - Everything you need to know about the world of education.













VALERIE STRAUSS
A School Survival Guide for Parents (And Everyone Else)

Posted at 10:35 PM ET, 04/19/2010

Did DOE get memo on school desegregation?

Century Foundation scholar Richard Kahlenberg asks why the U.S. Education Department is not forcefully addressing the profound challenge to equal opportunity today – the de facto economic and racial segregation of America’s suburban and city schools
Posted by Valerie Strauss | Permalink | Comments (1)
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JAY MATHEWS
What's Right and Wrong With Our Schools

Posted at 10:00 PM ET, 04/18/2010

Principal tells ninth graders to study, or leave

I was surprised when Charlie Thomas, principal of Crossland High School in Prince George’s County, began sending me emails. His school has been one of the worst in a low-performing district for a long time. But Thomas, who arrived in 2004, was trying to improve his school and was willing even to deal with a fault-finding columnist if it would help. Nearly 66 percent of his students were low-income, but he was not going to let that slow him down. I confess he has gotten my attention with some unusual moves.
Posted by Jay Mathews | Permalink | Comments (20)
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Hard Monday at Shaw school after principal's killing





My colleague Michael Birnbaum reports:
Until last week, Shaw Middle School students were greeted every morning by their principal, Brian Betts, who would stand at the corner of 10th and V streets NW, his school at his back, hugging students as they arrived for class and catching up with their parents.
Monday was the first day back in class since Betts was discovered fatally shot in his Silver Spring home Thursday night. Hugs were still exchanged at the corner, but this time it was between crying teachers and students.
Now the school must figure out how to carry on.
An English teacher who got her first teaching job from Betts, Meredith Leonard, said she couldn't imagine the school without him.
"But being around the kids makes it easier," she said. "He would have wanted us to keep moving. It'll be okay."
Continue reading this post »




Ed Buzz: The Nation

EducationNews.org - EducationNewsToday

EducationNews.org - EducationNewsToday

EducationNewsToday

Union proposes pay cut for all employees in Clark County School District

A 1.5 percent pay cut by all 38,500 employees in the Clark County School District would prevent layoffs and resolve the...
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L.A. study affirms benefits of preschool

Gains at the L.A. Universal Preschool programs were especially significant for learners of English....
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Education Cases One Facet of Stevens’ High Court Legacy

Opinions involving special education and religious expression were among those authored by the retiring Supreme Court justice. ...
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$3.5 Billion in Turnaround Aid Flowing to States

States and school districts will be under intense pressure to make dramatic—and rapid—changes at their lowest-performing schools. ...
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Harvard Professor Ogletree: Sharpton is Obama's Link to the Streets

The Rev. Al Sharpton is a “lightning rod” for President Barack Obama on inner-city streets, Obama's former Harvard mentor and friend Charles Ogletree said Saturday at a forum in Harlem. ...
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Cox to appeal ruling on Detroit Pubic Schools

State Attorney General Mike Cox plans to file an emergency appeal this morning to stop a court injunction blocking Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb from implementing sweeping academic reforms at Detroit Public Schools. ...
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Republicans pan Core Curriculum

Three candidates who are vying for the Iowa Republican Party's nomination for governor want to dump a new law that forces public schools to follow a statewide curriculum ...
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Consolidation suggested for 18 school districts

A Colorado consulting firm on Monday identified 18 school districts - most of them in the Delta - that, if consolidated into neighboring districts, could yield cost savings and improved test scores ...
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Rick Casey: Political pro wanted for HISD job

It is their job to keep their fingers on the pulses of the various constituencies that the official needs to please or at least assuage, to let the official know when trouble is brewing and what needs to be done to avoid or ameliorate it....
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Do the Math

A dispute over whether Washington’s schools have a budget surplus should not be used to scuttle an innovative teachers’ contract. ...
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N.J. Voters Asked to Pay More for Less at Schools

Shelly Bordon, a paralegal, with her daughter, Rachel. Her son, James, attends Washington Elementary School in Edison. She plans to vote yes....
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School snapped 56,000 spy images from student laptops...

Lower Merion School District employees activated the web cameras and tracking software on laptops they gave to high school students about 80 times in the past two school years, snapping nearly 56,000 images...
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Should Retired College Professors Memorize Shakespeare? — An Anti-Alzheimer’s Take

4.20.1- Robert Oliphant - According to the Harris poll, over 50% of us now worry about Alzheimer’s more than about cardiac disease, stroke, or diabetes. Understandably so, since according to WHO our 5.2 million cases comprise one seventh of the planet’s total....
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Does D.C. School System Really Have A Surplus?

Washington D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee and the teachers union have reached agreement on a new contract after more than two years of wrangling. Rhee has acknowledged that she's known for more than a month that a $46 million budget deficit — the reason she laid off more than 200 ... ...
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Teacher pay veto overshadowed other Florida education bills

While one of the most controversial education bills in memory went down with a veto, a number of other proposed changes could have a lasting impact on Florida schools...
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Rise & Shine: The Post lays it on Bill Perkins, a charter opponent | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: The Post lays it on Bill Perkins, a charter opponent | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: The Post lays it on Bill Perkins, a charter opponent

  • State Sen. Bill Perkins’ upcoming hearing on charter schools will showcase his antagonistic views. (Post)
  • The Post asks why Perkins opposes charter schools when his constituents like them. (Post)
  • Thomas Carroll says Perkins and the state teachers union are unfairly attacking charter schools. (Post)
  • The Albany Times Union profiles Peter Murphy, policy head of the state’s Charter Schools Association.
  • Murphy appeals to research to exhort Perkins to change his tune on charter schools. (Post)
  • School choruses are seeing interest from kids who are hooked on the musical TV show “Glee.” (Post)
  • Two Queens districts are fighting to claim PS 130, a school that lies on their border. (Daily News)
  • Brooklyn’s PS 105 has the borough’s longest kindergarten waitlist, at 76 potential students. (Daily News)
  • The staff at PS 105, including the principal, an immigrant herself, speak 7 Chinese dialects. (Daily News)
  • In New Jersey, school districts are simultaneously trying to raise taxes and cut school spending. (Times)
  • Military leaders want to improve school food so their recruits will be healthier. (USA Today)
  • The Penn. district accused of spying on students took 56,000 pictures of them. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
  • Federal officials visited a San Francisco school to learn how it turned around. (S.F. Chronicle)

Orange County teachers offer last-minute compromise before striking | California Watch

Orange County teachers offer last-minute compromise before striking | California Watch

Orange County teachers offer last-minute compromise before striking

A last-minute compromise gives the Capistrano Unified School District until 5 p.m. today to avert a teachers' strike.
According to the Orange County Register, a letter was sent yesterday to the district's attorney, John Rajcic, suggesting ways the two sides could restart negotiation talks. The terms of the compromise are:
1. The permanent 10 percent pay cuts be made temporary.
2. The temporary cuts expire on June 30, 2011.
3. The district agrees to restore salary, unpaid work days and benefit cuts if any unforeseen money is received to bolster the budget.
4. The district agrees to implement contractual language that had been previously agreed upon.
District officials acknowledged receiving the letter but did not comment on whether they would accept the union's

Palin's speaking fees rival former presidents

As politicians go, perhaps only Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a number of former presidents can command the speaking fees it reportedly takes to land Sarah Palin, a Texas newspaper reported Sunday.

While other schools cut sports, UCSD explores adding football team

Some collegiate sports teams in California are up against tough times.
Student athletes at UC Davis learned last week that the university would cut four sports teams in an effort to plug a $1.4 million deficit. The women's rowing, men's wrestling, men's indoor track, and men's swimming and diving teams fell victim to the chopping block.

Education supporters near finish of 365-mile march - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Education supporters near finish of 365-mile march - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Education supporters near finish of 365-mile march

Published: Tuesday, Apr. 20, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 2B
Education advocates are nearing the end of their 48-day, 365-mile march from Bakersfield to Sacramento to protest cuts to public education.
March for California's Future has made stops in dozens of cities along the way, including a layover Monday at Cosumnes River College.
More than 250 people, including students, rallied at CRC after a one-mile march.
The march will move to Granite Park at 10 a.m. today, where supporters will continue their journey.
The event will conclude with Wednesday's march at 3 p.m. from Southside Park to the west lawn of the Capitol, where a rally is planned at 4 p.m.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/04/20/2690814/education-supporters-near-finish.html#mi_rss=Education#ixzz0ldwJb8yK


Hundreds of pink-slipped teachers crowded into the Elk Grove Unified School District board room Monday to begin three days of hearings.

7W18PINKSLIP1
Next school year, students returning to Sunrise Elementary School in Rancho Cordova may recognize only half their teachers.


Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/education/#ixzz0ldwUZszX

School Budgets Go to New Jersey Voters - NYTimes.com

School Budgets Go to New Jersey Voters - NYTimes.com

N.J. Voters Asked to Pay More for Less at Schools


Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times
Shelly Bordon, a paralegal, with her daughter, Rachel. Her son, James, attends Washington Elementary School in Edison. She plans to vote yes.




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EDISON, N.J. — School budget talks have become so contentious in this township that 700 people recently packed a school board meeting — and 100 of them stayed more than nine hours, until 4 a.m.
Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times
“I’m going to vote yes, but I’m probably going to regret it,” said Robert Gray, a retail manager who lives in Edison and is expecting his first child in July.

At stake is Edison’s $204.8 million school budget for next year, which calls for increasing the local property tax levy by 8.6 percent. Even with such an increase — which required a waiver to the state’s 4 percent cap — Edison plans to lay off 92 teachers, cancel summer school, cut kindergarten to a half day and eliminate middle school athletic teams.
But first voters have to approve the budget, which is on the ballot Tuesday, as are budgets in most of New Jersey’s 600 school districts. Many school officials are expecting the toughest elections in years, as districts seek not only to raise property taxes but also to slash popular programs to offset the unusually large reductions in school aid proposed by Gov. Christopher J. Christie, who is trying to close an $11 billion state deficit.
“I’m getting a hundred e-mail

Policy Change Signals Stricter Enforcement of Title IX

In a reversal of policy, universities will no longer be able to rely solely on student surveys to prove they are meeting the requirements of the gender-equity law.

A Conversation With Sean Carroll (the Physicist): Sean Carroll Talks School Science and Time Travel

Dr. Carroll, a cosmologist and theoretical physicist, is an expert on time and the early moments of the universe.
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Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

North Penn teachers go out on strike | Philadelphia Inquirer | 04/19/2010

North Penn teachers go out on strike | Philadelphia Inquirer | 04/19/2010

North Penn teachers go out on strike


Classes in Montgomery County's largest school district have been canceled for Monday after negotiators failed Sunday to broker a contract agreement between the teachers union and the school board.
The walkout in the North Penn School District follows months of contentious talks, court actions, and severed negotiations.
The union and school board negotiated for seven hours Sunday at district offices in Lansdale. According to the district Web site, the board made its last proposal to the union about 7:45 p.m. At 8:50, the district issued an announcement that there would be no school Monday.
"The strike could run seven days if it goes its full duration," said Alan Malachowski, president of the North Penn Education Association, the union that represents the district's 1,070 teachers. "We're hopeful it can be shorter than that if we can get back to the table and continue bargaining."
The walkout cannot run longer because state law requires students to have 180 school days before June 30, Malachowski said.
Talks will resume Monday with a state mediator, said Vincent Sherpinsky, school board president.
Both sides exchanged several proposals but failed to reach an accord.
Sherpinsky said the district's last offer included an 18.81 percent cumulative pay increase over the course of five

Washington Twp. school race sounds political

Eight candidates are vying for three school board seats in Washington Township at a time when state aid cuts have turned a spotlight on what can sometimes be low-profile affairs.


Schools face financial squeeze in Cherry Hill

When her daughter Samantha, now 17, asked to transfer from private Haddonfield Friends to public grade school in Cherry Hill, Lisa Farkas was skeptical.

Can Philadelphia learn from Lafayette High?

NEW YORK - History teacher Patrick Compton is leafing through pages of the 1967 yearbook of Lafayette High School, alma mater of baseball great Sandy Koufax and broadcaster Larry King in a working-class enclave of Brooklyn.